Kelsey Grammer nearly died after heart attack

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Television star Kelsey Grammer,
best known from "Cheers" and his sitcom "Frasier," nearly died
after suffering a heart attack last month, he told U.S. showbiz
news program "Entertainment Tonight."

Grammer, 53, felt chest pains while paddle-boarding with
his wife in Hawaii, where they have a second home, and was
taken to hospital, where he was found to have suffered a heart
attack.

At the time, about seven weeks ago, his spokesman Stan
Rosenfield said it was a mild heart attack but declined to give
further details of Grammer's condition or medical treatment.

But Grammer told "Entertainment Tonight" that the heart
attack was not actually mild at all and he nearly died because
his heart stopped.

"They had to blast me twice and get me started all over
again," he told the news program in an interview to be aired on
Thursday evening.

"I did think: 'Oh gosh, I have got to hang on. I've got too
much junk I've got to take care of. I've got to take care of
the family."'

Grammer, who stars with Kevin Costner in the political
comedy "Swing Vote" that opens August 1, said it felt "like
somebody was actually trying to tear my chest apart with, like,
the jaws of life."

Grammer's heart attack came three weeks after he learned
the Fox network was canceling his sitcom "Back to You," in
which he played a pompous, womanizing TV news anchor opposite
Patricia Heaton. The series lasted only one season.

"Obviously you play the hand you're dealt, and it has been
a very interesting hand lately; it has been tough," he said.
Continued...